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InDIA
Asian Voice - Saturday 26th June 2010
Delhi to have a direct Air India flight to Melbourne
In divine light
AI, Victoria State signed deal on Tuesday; flight from 01 November Air India will have its first direct flight to Australia between New Delhi and Melbourne from 01 November, 2010. Victoria Premier John Brumby, Industry and Trade minister Jacinta Allan signed the deal on Tuesday, 22nd June in Melbourne. This New Delhi – Melbourne will be a daily flight. Air India officials in Mumbai said CMD Arvind Jadhav had discussed the modalities with Australian aviation authorities during his just-concluded visit to the country. The officials also said the air line has plans to start a flight to San Francisco in USA. A decision for that will be taken soon. Brumby said the
NID director to get honorary degree in UK The director of National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, Pradyumna Vyas has been invited by University for the Creative Arts (UCA), UK, to present him with an honorary master of arts in recognition of his contribution to design education and promotion. He will be presented with the award at UCA Farnham's graduation ceremony on June 29 at Guildford Cathedral in UK. Paul Coyle, pro vice-chancellor and executive dean at the UCA, said, "Vyas is a well-respected designer who cares deeply about higher education."
Indian flag carrier will also set up a regional headquarters in the Victorian capital. "Victoria and India share common interests in cricket, international education, film and trade," Brumby said. "With a growing Indian community living here in Victoria we are also seeing more relatives and friends visit Victoria which is great for local jobs and the economy as tourism grows." Allan said “Melbourne is Australia's major around-the-clock, curfewfree international airport,
accommodating international carriers at about half the operating cost incurred at Sydney.” Plans for expanding international network “A final decision on the San Francisco is also expected shortly,” Air India officials added. Before Air India, private carrier Jet Airways had launched a service to San Francisco via Shanghai in June 2008. But within six months, the airline withdrew the flight after the route was found economically unviable. Air India is also considering several other routes to expand its international network. These include more flights to Africa and West Asia, they added.
Beer, wine would be available at Delhi restaurants To make Delhi more tourist friendly, you may be able to order wine or beer with your meal at your favourite joint. Delhi government is in the process of issuing licences to eateries allowing the serving of softer alcoholic drinks. There were a lot of requests from eateries which want to serve beer and wine. So the government has decided to create a separate category under which, if a restaurant meets the other conditions like a MCD trade licence, fire clearance and separate toilets for men and women, it can get a L-4d licence for serving these drinks. This is a part of making the city more tourist-
friendly ahead of the Commonwealth Games. There will be extra demand for beer, etc which we hope to meet through this. Football junkies though will rue the fact that the move did not come in time for the FIFA World Cup that is currently in progress in South Africa. Meanwhile, the government is planning to write to the Centre asking for it to expedite the clearance of the Delhi Excise Act which has been pending the Centre's approval for a long time now. L -4d licences, was not possible for roadside eateries starting to sell beer as there are ample safeguards in place.
Punjab also suffering from alcohol contamination in ground water After uranium and chemicals as well as pesticides residues in the ground water, Punjab has also discovered alcohol contamination in ground water. Four major distilleries operating in the state have been found to be discharging untreated effluents directly into the soil around their site. This has resulted in excessive levels of the booze in the ground water in the area. But, for residents, it’s not all joy. An unbearable stench of rot hangs heavily in the air as you drive from Chandigarh to Dera Bassi, where one of the distilleries is located. A team of Punjab legislators has found that nearly 30-km area around the four distilleries has become ‘highly polluted and contains huge amounts of alcohol’. Sukhwinder Kaur, a resident of Dera Bassi, where one of the distilleries is located says, “The smell of liqour, when it is
fermented, hangs in the air all the time. When you drink water it is not just yellow in colour but smells of liquor. May be we are all on a high all the time and so have stopped feeling it.’’ Punjab is known for men with an unsatiable thirst for liquor. The state earns maximum revenue, more than from any other product including foodgrain, from liquor sales. Expectedly, the state has the highest rate of liver failures and is probably the poorest equipped to deal with the medical crisis. Virsa Singh Valtoha, an Akali MLA who is part of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha’s Pollution Control Committee (PCC), said that the situation is alarming as it is detrimental to people’s health. ‘‘This is very serious. We are looking into the norms that are being flouted by various distillieries that is causing
such serious health hazard to people living in the vicinity.’’ The report of the committee has not yet been tabled, said Valtoha, and as of now is confidential. The main culprits are four distilleries in Dera Bassi, Pathankot, Hamira and Gurdaspur areas. These units have been defaulting perpetually by discharging untreated effluents in water channels and soil, causing not just air pollution but destruction of aquatic life as well. Since these distilleries find use of coal expensive, they use rice husk and later scatter the ash all along roads and vacant areas, which is the prime reason for the unbearable stench. Beer distilling and bottling plants discharge waste in streams and ponds which seeps into the ground. At many places, the waste after production of alcohol is discharged into rivers.
By Rajen Vakil
Vyasa and Ganapati: synchronisation personified After compiling the Vedas, Vyasa visualized a great work of poetry but was in a quandary of how to write it down for perusal by generations to come. Lord Brahma appeared before him. Seeing the lord, Vyasa bowed down with folded hands and said, “O lord, I have created this great work of poetry. It contains the deepest mysteries of the Vedas; it has the knowledge of the Upanishads and the lessons of history and the puranas. It reveals the mysteries of time and the secrets of death. I have included all the principles of astrology, geography, and astronomy.” Vyasa added “There is knowledge of law, medicine, education, politics, and charity – the complete science of spirituality together with knowledge of the soul and the spirit. It describes all the holy places, forests, mountains, rivers and cities. It is a complete treatise on the art of warfare, politics, and the duties and functions of a king. O lord this will be the book of books containing all the knowledge available to man. But I need a scribe who will write as fast as I dictate, please help me find one worthy of this great task.” To this, Brahma answered “You are the greatest of rishis and have complete knowledge of the relationship between consciousness and truth. Just as family life is the highest form of spiritual living, your poetical composition will be the greatest poem ever written. In the stream of time which flows from this moment – both into the future and the past, nothing will ever surpass what you have written. Please meditate on Ganesha and he will take the task of being your scribe.” Vyas meditated upon Ganesha who appeared before him. He worshipped him and gave him an elevated seat. He then requested, “O lord of the ganas (primal energies), I have conceived in my mind the greatest of poems; please be my scribe and write it down as I dictate.” Ganesha said “If while writing my pen does not stop, I agree to perform this task.” To this Vyasa replied, “And you will not write down anything you have not understood.” Ganesha agreed and they were ready for the task.
While reciting the hundred thousand slokas of the Mahabharata, Vyasa put in eight thousand eight hundred slokas that are very difficult to unravel. Even Ganesha had to pause to understand their meanings. In these short pauses, Vyasa would compose the next series of slokas and would get time for a breather. It is said that these eight thousand eight hundred slokas of the Mahabharata contain the deepest mysteries of Dharma, Artha, Kama
has been able to communicate with the cosmic or divine mind. In yoga there is the marriage of the lower mind with the higher mind. This can only happen when all our animal passions or ganas are under control. When this happens, the logical mind and the intuitive mind merge into it one another. When we have calmed and controlled our lower animal nature, we become Ganapati or lord of the passions. As he is the god of good fortune, to such a yogi only good
and Moksha. Vyasa himself says that in these slokas he has tried to open people’s eyes and free them from the darkness they live in. Let us now try to see the symbology in this story. Some higher knowledge is being revealed to the great sage Vyasa; this knowledge is flowing into him from some higher dimension of time and space. If this knowledge is not written down immediately, it would be lost forever. We can compare it to seeing a dream early in the morning but if we do not write it down immediately then we forget it. Dreams come from a much lower dimension then the one Vyasa is talking about. So, the vision which Vyasa is seeing and the writing of Ganesha must happen nearly at the same time. The word ‘Ganapati’ comes from the root gana meaning to count. Of that he is the pati or lord. Gana also means our passions which have come from the animal world and he is the lord of these passions. We have two brains – the logical brain that counts and reasons, and the creative brain from which flows music, poetry, and creativity. The creative brain also acts as a modem and can receive higher knowledge from the cosmic mind. Many scientific discoveries have come as flashes from our creative brain when that scientist
fortune flows. Thus, the birth of the Mahabharata is from the marriage of the lower with the higher. Man has a thinking centre and thoughts are put into action through the moving centre. When the yogi goes beyond thought into the realm of intuitive intelligence, he gets many flashes of deep mysteries but the problem comes when he tries to express them in words; this can only come by synchronising the intuiting with the moving. For the lower mind to express the truth as clearly as is seen by the higher mind, it must first understand this truth. Many people understand very deeply but find it very difficult to bring the light they have experienced into normal everyday living or to express their understanding in words. In a computer, we have a modem which downloads coded files. But we can only understand them when they appear on the screen. The modem is the higher mind or Vyasa and the screen is our logical mind or Ganesha who is able to decode the higher and make it available for the benefit of mankind. This beautiful story about Vyasa and Ganapati depicts the beautiful synchronisation of the thinking and the moving centre. (Edited by Chintu Gandhi. Illustration by Siddharth Ramanuj.) The author can be reached by emailing 3srb@live.com